Countdown to Havana’s Alternative Biennial (with Newsletters & Videos)

April 20, 2018

Yanelys Nunez Leyva

HAVANA TIMES — We’ve already started counting down. The opening ceremony of the #00 Havana Biennial will take place on May 5th at a home in Old Havana with a group exhibition, which will include works by Cuban and foreign artists.

Over the following 10 days, the Yobatard, Riera, Yo soy el que Soy and other studios, as well as La Zanja, INSTAR, Aglutinador, El Bloque del Este, El Oficio, El Circulo, Friccion Brake, Mapi and other platforms which will be promoted in due time. All will be facilitators of experiences which will talk about the concerns some artists have today: the plight of social minorities, stories in History and our memory, Human-environment relationships, displays of Power and Freedom.

In just over a fortnight, we will be presenting the artists taking part via digital newsletters (we have already sent out 6 newsletters by email) and video interviews on our YouTube channel, you can see: Chino Novo, Tania Bruguera, Lester Dube, Hector Trujillo, Serones y David Leon.(These are all found below.)

I also believe it’s important to give you a greater preview of the artists who will be taking part in the independent #00 Biennial project (with some omissions however, for strategic reasons).

Marisol Maza (Mexico), Yvelin Buenrostro (Mexico), Armando Cuspinera (Mexico), Julian Yunda Yepes (Mexico), Yesica Suarez (Colombia), Oscar Salamanca (Colombia), Unx Pardo Ibarra (Colombia), Antonio Mas (Spain), Alicia Torres (Spain), Gerardo Stübing (Spain), Filipa César (Portugal), Keyezua (Africa) Svitlana Biedarieva (Ukraine), and from Cuba, Jose Luis Marrero, Chino Novo, Yuri Obregon, Jose Ernesto Alonso, Serones, Amaury Pacheco, Iris Ruiz, David de Omni, Hector Trujillo, Lester Dube, Arian, Yulier P., Raul Merino, Yoenis Eloy Mayeta, Alejandro Barreras, Jenifer Acuna, Hamlet Lavastida, Henri Eric Hernandez & Celia y Yunior, Alein Somonte, David Leon, Francis Sánchez, Yahiron Villalobo, Adonis Milan, Yasser Castellanos, El Sexto, Gabriel Coto, Sam 33, 2+2 =5, Happy Zombie, Eliecer Rodríguez Alemeida, Fernando Reyna Escalona, Italo Expósito, Jesus Hernandez Guero, Yaima Pardo, Ariel Maceo Tellez, Nonardo Perea, Marcel Marquez, Lía Villares, Luis Trapaga, Yimi Konclase, the Coco Social Club.

I can’t leave out our warm and most sincere appreciation for Cuban artist Chino Novo’s bold act on behalf of the #00 Havana Biennial. Not only will his 3800 CUC donation ensure the event is even better, it has also established new bridges and opened up new doors.